OLIVER  COT  TEE. 


ICibrtH 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


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READ,  AND  DRINK  NO  MORE. 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS, 

WITH 

A  DESCRIPTION 

OF  THE 

Poisons  Used  in  their  Manufacture. 


BY 

OLIVER  COTTER, 

A  REFORMED  LIQUOR  DEALER,  OF  BROOKLYN,  K.  V. 


A.  S.  BARNES  &  CO., 
New- York. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

OLIVER  COTTER, 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


The  laws  of  health  are  the  laws  of  God,  and  as  binding 
on  men  as  the  Decalogue.— Willard  Parker,  M.D., 
President  Academy  of  Medicine. 

Among  the  evil  institutions  that  threaten  the  integrity 
and  safety  of  a  State,  the  liquor  traffic  stands  preeminent. — 
Hon.  John  Bright. 

If  alcohol  were  unknown,  half  the  sin,  and  a  large  part 
of  the  poverty  and  unhappiness  of  this  world,  would 
disappear. — Prof.  Edmund  H.  Parks,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


http://archive.org/details/seewhatyoudrinkrOOcott_0 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  following  pages  have  been  compiled 
from  the  writings  and  lectures  of  the  most 
celebrated  chemists,  physicians,  and  physiolo- 
gists of  the  present  age,  together  with  the 
experience  of  the  author  as  a  liquor  dealer  for 
seven  years  past. 

The  writer  believes  that  the  true  way  to 
promote  the  temperance  cause  is  to  kindly 
and  truthfully  teach  the  people  the  true  na- 
ture of  alcoholic  beverages,  and  to  expose  the 
system  of  adulterations  and  frauds  that  are 
practiced  to  such  an  alarming  extent  by  the 
dealers. 

With  the  hope  that  this  treatise  may  help  to 
check  the  swelling  tide  of  intemperance  that 
threatens  to  overwhelm  our  country,  it  is  re 
spectfully  submitted  to  all  classes  of  society. 

OLIVER  COTTER. 

Brooklyn,  1874. 


Adulteration  of  Liquors. 


WINE. 

The  practice  of  drugging  wines  is  of  very 
ancient  date.  Homer,  who  lived  one  thousand 
years  before  Christ,  makes  frequent  mention  of 
the  very  potent  drugs  that  were  mixed  with 
wines. 

In  the  Odyssey,  lib.  IV.  220,  he  tells  us  that 
Helen  prepared  for  Telemachus  and  his  com- 
panions a  beverage  which  was  highly  stupe- 
factive.  This  art  she  learned  from  the  Egyp- 
tians. The  Hebrews,  as  we  learn  from  Scrip- 
ture, were  in  the  habit  of  using  mixed  wines, 
wines  made  inebriating  by  the  use  of  spices, 
myrrh,  mandragora,  opiates,  and  other  strong 
drugs ;  yea,  many  have  supposed  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  Old  World  were  experts  in  the 
whole  system  of  drugging  and  adulterating 
wines,  and  that  one  of  the  abominations  which 


s 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


drew  down  upon  them  the  wrath  of  heaven, 
was  that  of  drunkenness. 

Pliny,  in  Chapter  16  of  Book  XIV.,  gives 
a  long  list  of  drugs  and  spices  and  fruits  from 
which  wines  were  made. 

Virgil,  after  enumerating  various  descriptions 
of  wine,  cuts  short  the  subject  by  saying,  that 
it  was  impossible  to  number  the  various  species 
of  wine  then  in  use,  and  that  to  attempt  it 
would  be  as  hopeless  a  task  as  to  tell  the  sands 
of  the  Lybian  coasts  which  the  west  wind 
agitates,  or  the  waves  of  the  Ionian  Sea  which 
are  rolled  to  the  shore. 

During  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  a  law  was  enacted  in  Eng- 
land, imposing  heavy  penalties  on  frauds  on 
liquors.  That  same  monarch,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Mayor  of  London,  complains  of  the  wine 
merchants,  "  they  do  mingle  corrupt  wines  with 
other  wines,  and  are  not  afraid  to  sell  the  wines 
so  mixed  and  corrupt  at  the  same  price  as  they 
sell  the  good  and  pure,  to  the  corruption  of  the 
bodily  health  of  those  who  buy  wines  by 
retail." 

Addison,  in  his  Tatler,  No.  131,  says  that, 
in  his  time,  1710,  there  was  a  certain  fraternity 
of  chemical  operators  who  wrought  under- 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


9 


ground,  in  holes,  caverns,  and  dark  retirements, 
to  conceal  their  mysteries  from  the  eyes  and 
observation  of  mankind. 

These  subterraneous  philosophers  are  daily 
employed  in  the  transmutation  of  liquors,  and 
by  the  power  of  magical  drugs  and  incantations, 
raise,  under  the  streets  of  London,  the  choicest 
products  of  the  hills  and  valleys  of  France. 
They  squeeze  Bordeaux  out  of  the  sloe,  and 
draw  champagne  from  an  apple. 

Virgil,  in  that  remarkable  line, 

"The  ripening  grape  shall  hang  on  every  thorn," 

seems  to  have  hinted  at  this  art,  which  turns  a 
plantation  of  modern  hedges  into  a  vineyard. 

These  adepts  are  known  among  one  another 
by  the  name  of  wine-brewers,  and  I  am  afraid 
do  great  injury  to  the  bodies  of  many  of  her 
majesty's  good  subjects. 

For  example,  take  champagne  wine.  The 
United  States  are  reported  to  be  the  largest 
consumers  of  this  kind  in  the  world,  that  of 
1,000,000  baskets.  Now,  let  us  remember  that 
the  whole  Champagne  district  is  about  20,000 
acres,  and  the  amount  of  wines  manufactured 
for  exportation  is  10,000,000  bottles,  or  about 
800,000  baskets.    Of  this,  Russia  consumes 


ro 


ADULTERATION  OF.  LIQUORS. 


160,000;  France,  162,000;  Germany,  146,000; 
England,  220,000 — leaving  only  120,000  for  the 
United  States  ;  which  proves  that  888,000  bas- 
kets of  wine  drank  in  this  country  for  imported 
champagne  are  counterfeit — an  amount  more 
than  equal  to  the  whole  supply  of  the  Cham- 
pagne district  for  the  world. 

Take  that  of  madeira.  Dr.  Nott  states,  on 
reliable  authority,  that  but  30,000  barrels  of 
wine  were  produced  on  the  island  of  Madeira, 
and  yet  50,000  arc  claimed  to  be  from  there 
drank  in  America  alone. 

Take  that  of  port  wines.  According  to  the 
custom-house  books  of  Oporto,  for  one  year, 
135  pipes  and  20  hogsheads  were  shipped  for 
Germany ;  yet  in  the  same  year  there  were 
landed  at  the  London  docks  2545  pipes  and 
162  hogsheads  from  that  island,  reported  to  be 
port  wine.  Whence  come  the  additions  ?  In 
France,  there  are  many  thousand  hogsheads  of 
wine  exported  annually,  more  than  all  the 
vineyards  can  possibly  yield.  There  is  more 
what  is  called  port  wine  drank  in  London 
alone  than  all  the  port-wine  growers  in  the 
world  can  produce,  and  yet  London  supplies 
the  whole  civilized  world. 

From  the  report  of  the  Commissioners  of 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


1 1 


the  Internal  Revenue  system,  made  in  1866,  we 
learn  that  four  firms  in  the  city  of  New- York 
reported  to  the  commissioners  a  consumption 
of  225,000  gallons  of  pure  spirits  for  the  manu- 
facture of  imitation  wines. 

As  about  twenty  per  cent  is  the  proportion 
of  spirits  used,  we  have  from  four  firms  alone 
nearly  2,000,000  gallons  of  this  death-dealing 
mixture  palmed  off  for  consumption.  Con- 
ceive, if  you  can,  the  whole  amount  manu- 
factured in  these  United  States,  when  there 
are  probably  not  less  than  three  hundred  firms 
engaged  in  the  debasing  traffic. 

Prof.  C.  A.  Lee,  of  New-York,  says :  "  A 
cheap  madeira  is  made  here  by  extracting  the 
oils  from  common  whisky,  and  by  passing  it 
through  carbon.  There  are  immense  estab- 
lishments in  this  city  where  the  whisky  is  thus 
turned  into  wine.  In  some  of  those  devoted 
to  this  branch  of  business,  the  whisky  is  rolled 
in  the  evening,  but  the  wine  goes  in  the  broad 
daylighj,  ready  to  defy  the  closest  inspection." 

A  grocer,  after  he  had  abandoned  the  nefa- 
rious traffic,  assured  me  that  he  had  often  pur- 
chased whisky  one  day  of  a  country  merchant, 
and  before  he  left  town  sold  the  same  whisky 


12 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


back  to  him,  turned  into  wine,  at  a  profit  of 
from  four  to  five  hundred  per  cent. 

This  metamorphosis  is  not  even  excelled  by 
the  French  wine  merchant  who  said:  14  Give  me 
six  hours'  notice  of  what  wine  you  like,  and  you 
shall  have  it  out  of  those  two  barrels." 

Let  us  ascertain  what  it  is  that  man  drinks 
when  lie  takes  a  glass  of  wine.  On  the  testi- 
mony of  Accum,  one  well  qualified  to  speak, 
evidence  sufficient  has  accumulated  to  show 
that  few  of  those  commodities  which  are  the 
objects  of  commerce  are  adulterated  to  a 
greater  extent  than  wines.  We  have  testi- 
monies the  most  unquestionable,  that  modern 
wines  are  manufactured  and  adulterated  to  an 
awful  extent.  The  Vintner  s  Guide  and  The 
Wine-Merc  hani  s  Companion  furnish  the  most 
shocking  directions  on  this  subject,  and  any 
one  who  desires  to  learn  more  than  we  can  give 
in  this  article  on  the  ingredients  that  enter  into 
the  composition  of  those  fabrications  called 
wines,  so  obligingly  prepared  in  those  garrets 
and  cellars  of  our  large  cities,  where  fraud 
under  ground  finds  protection,  and  wholesale 
deeds  of  darkness  are  securely  and  systemati- 
cally performed,  and  no  less  obligingly  supplied 
from  the  brew-houses  of  foreign  lands,  will  do 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


13 


well  to  consult  M.  P.  Orfila,  on  poisons,  and 
Mr.  Frederick  Accum,  on  coloring  poisons. 

We  will  enumerate  some  of  the  ingredients 
and  the  object  sought  for  in  the  adulterations. 

To  brighten,  color,  clear,  and  make  astrin- 
gent wines,  alum,  Brazil-wood,  gypsum,  oak  saw- 
dust, husks  of  filbert,  and  lead  are  employed  ; 
and  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  particu- 
lar flavor  to  insipid  wines,  bitter  almond, 
cherry-laurel  water.  In  the  Isle  of  Sheppey, 
many  persons  are  employed  in  picking  up 
copperas  stones  from  the  sea-beach,  which 
being  taken  to  a  manufactory,  copperas  is  ex- 
tracted, and  then  shipped  to  Oporto,  to  be  sold 
to  the  wine-dresser  and  wine-merchant,  and  by 
them  is  mixed  with  the  port  wine  to  give  it  a 
particular  astringent  quality. 

It  is  but  recently  that  a  writer,  noways 
favorable  to  abstinence,  but  one  who  ought  to 
know,  said,  in  an  article  on  adulterated  wines  : 
"  We  know  very  well  that  the  Spaniard  would 
not  touch  the  wine  he  manufactures  for  us,  and 
the  Portuguese  would  spit  out  our  port  like  so 
much  poison.  What  a  humiliating  thought 
that  Americans  greedily  swallow  what  the  Por- 
tuguese spit  out  as  poison  !" 

In  answer  to  certain  questions,  Dr.  Cox,  the 


14 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


celebrated  chemist  and  inspector  of  liquors  for 
Ohio,  mentions  the  following  as  the  composi- 
tions of  all  the  port  wine  he  had  inspected  that 
spring:  "  As  a  basis,  either  water,  cider  vinegar, 
or  a  mixture  of  water  and  sulphuric  acid,  with 
the  juice  of  elder-berries,  privet-berries,  beet- 
root juice  and  logwood,  with  alum,  technically 
called  sulphate  of  alumina  and  potassa,  sugar 
to  cover  the  pernicious  mixtures,  and  some- 
times I  found  one  or  two  per  cent  of  Jamaica 
rum  or  neutral  spirits  added. " 

Of  sherry,  madeira,  muscatel,  etc.,  he  says 
they  are  all — or  at  least  all  that  he  has  inspect- 
ed— either  mixed  or  have  as  a  basis  water,  cider, 
wort,  made  of  pale  malt,  or  a  mixture  of  sul- 
phuric acid  and  water  to  the  acidity  of  weak 
vinegar,  with  brown  sugar,  honey,  orris-root,  and 
neutral  spirits  to  give  it  alcoholic  percentages ; 
and  this,  he  adds,  was  the  character  of  two  sam- 
ples of  wines,  port  and  sherry,  that  he  inspected, 
which  were  sent  from  a  store,  the  proprietors 
of  which  are  honorable  and  high-minded  gen- 
tlemen, who  had  paid  a  high  price  for  their 
liquors,  got  them  out  of  the  custom-house  in 
an  Eastern  city,  with  an  assurance  that  they 
were  genuine  and  imported,  and  yet  there  was 
not  one  drop  or  symptom  of  wine  in  either  of 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


*5 


them — the  one  having  its  warming,  stimulating 
influence  from  sulphuric  acid  and  one  per 
cent  Jamaica  rum  ;  and  the  sherry  having  six 
per  cent  alcoholic  spirits  imparted  to  it  by 
neutral  spirits,  with  sulphuric  acid,  bitter 
almonds,  brown  sugar,  and  honey. 

These  abominable  mixtures  are  flavored 
with  various  oils  to  suit  the  flavors  of  different 
wines  :  oil  of  lavender,  cloves,  cinnamon,  berga- 
mot,  rosemary,  etc.  etc. 

At  an  examination  made  by  this  same  Dr. 
Cox,  in  the  presence  of  Professor  Wilson,  of 
Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa.,  he  found  in 
one  article  of  wine  purporting  to  be  the  pure 
wine  of  grape,  and  which  had  been  used  for  sa- 
cramental purposes,  the  following:  eight  per 
cent  alcoholic  spirit  or  rye  whisky,  muriatic 
acid,  alum,  sugar,  elder-berries  or  flowers,  which 
impart  a  flavor  very  analogous  to  the  grape  ;  and 
in  a  sample  of  pale  sherry,  so  called,  belonging 
to  one  of  the  professors  of  that  college,  and 
purchased  by  him  at  a  high  price  from  an  im- 
porting-house  of  New- York  city,  and  for  medi- 
cal purposes,  there  was  not  a  drop  of  the  juice 
of  the  grape,  but  an  abundance  of  sulphuric 
acid,  prussic  acid,  alum,  and  other  ingredients 


i6 


ADULTERATION  of  LIQUORS. 


to  give  bouquet  and  aroma  to  that  rascally  and 
poisonous  imitation. 

Query  :  Was  this  the  medicinal  wine  ordered 
by  Paul  for  Timothy's  weak  stomach,  and  often 
infirmities?  Accum  says,  many  thousands  of 
pipes  of  spoiled  cider  are  annually  brought 
hither  from  the  country,  for  the  purpose  of 
being  converted  into  fictitious  wine  ;  artisans 
are  regularly  employed  in  staining  and  crust- 
ing casks  and  bottles,  and  making  an  astrin- 
gent extract  for  old  port. 

Mr.  Cyrus  Redding,  celebrated  as  an  author 
who  has  written  much  on  the  subject  of  wine, 
in  the  description  he  gave  before  the  Select 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  of  the 
mode  by  which  wines  are  manufactured  in 
London,  stated  that  brandy  cowe — that  is,  wash- 
ings of  brandy-casks — coloring  made  of  elder- 
berries, logwood,  salt  of  tartar,  green  dragon, 
tincture  of  red  sanders  or  cudbear,  were  exten- 
sively used  in  preparing  an  article  which  sells 
as  port.  The  entire  export  of  port  wine,  he 
added,  is  20,000  pipes,  and  yet  60,000,  as  given 
in  evidence,  are  annually  consumed  in  this 
country. 

Rev.  Dr.  Baird,  in  his  visit  to  the  vineyards 
of  Spain  and  France,  says  brandy  is  always 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


17 


added  to  the  finest  sherries  on  their  shipment, 
because  strength  is  one  of  the  first  qualities 
looked  for  by  the  consumer.  Again,  in  no  case 
do  exporters  send  a  genuine  natural  wine — that 
is,  a  wine  as  it  comes  from  the  vat — without  a 
mixture  of  other  qualities. 

The  Wine  Guide  gives  directions  to  put  a 
quart  of  warm  sheep's  or  lamb's  blood  into  a 
butt  of  sherry  to  take  off  the  color.  The  same 
book  gives  directions  to  wine  merchants  for 
clearing  cloudy  or  musty  wine  with  litharge  or 
sugar  of  lead.  Dr.  Nott  says  :  "  A  friend  of 
mine  informed  me  that,  having  been  induced  to 
purchase  a  cask  of  port  wine  by  the  fact  that  it 
had  just  been  received  direct  from  Oporto  by  a 
house  in  New- York,  in  the  honor  and  integrity 
of  which  entire  confidence  could  be  placed,  he 
drew  off  and  bottled  up  and  secured  with  his  own 
hands  its  precious  contents,  to  be  reserved  for 
the  special  use  of  friends  ;  and  that  having  done 
so,  and  having  thereafter  occasion  to  cause  that 
cask  to  be  sawed  in  two,  he  found,  to  his  astonish- 
ment, that  its  lees  consisted  of  a  large  quantity 
of  the  shavings  of  logwood,  a  residuum  of 
alum  and  other  ingredients,  the  name  and  na- 
ture of  which  were  to  him  unknown.  In  reply 
to  a  question  put  by  the  same  authority  to  a 


i8 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


friend  who  had  himself  been  a  wine  dealer,  as 
to  the  verity  of  the  startling  statements  then 
published  with  reference  to  wine-brewing,  this 
response  was  made :  "  God  forgive  what  has 
passed  in  my  own  cellar,  but  the  statements 
made  are  true,  all  true,  I  assure  you."  Another 
friend,  who  had  been  the  executor  of  a  wine 
dealer,  assured  him  that,  in  the  inventory  of  arti- 
cles for  the  manufacture  found  in  the  cellar  of 
that  dealer,  and  which  amounted  to  many  thou- 
sand dollars,  there  was  not  one  dollar  for  the 
juice  of  the  grape.  And  still  another  friend 
informed  him  that,  in  examining,  as  an  assignee, 
the  papers  of  a  house  in  the  city  which  dealt 
in  wines,  and  which  had  stopped  payment,  he 
found  evidence  of  the  purchase,  during  the  pre- 
ceding years,  of  hundreds  of  casks  of  cider,  but 
no  wine,  which  had  been  supposed  to  have  been 
dealt  out  by  that  house  to  its  confiding  custom- 
ers. A  gentleman  who  had  once  been  largely 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  spurious  wines, 
and  who  in  one  year  sold  30,000  casks,  stated 
to  Mr.  Delevan  that  few  persons  who  drink 
wine  had  any  conception  of  what  they  drink. 
Frauds  committed  in  the  city  of  New-York 
alone  amount,  it  is  supposed,  to  $8,000,000  an- 
nually.   A  cargo  of  wine  arrives  in  New- York  ; 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


19 


it  is  at  once  purchased  up,  and  if  fictitious,  in 
twenty-four  hours  its  whole  character  is  chang- 
ed.   To  effect  this,  it  is  emptied  into  large  vats, 
and  then  mixed  with  whisky,  cider,  sour  beer, 
and  drugs.    One  of  the  most  poisonous  ingre- 
dients which  these  adulterators  use  is  lead ; 
this  appears  to  have  been  rather  an  old  practice. 
In  the  year  1696,  several  persons  in  the  Duchy 
of  Wurtemberg  were  poisoned  in  consequence 
of  drinking  wine  adulterated  with  white  lead. 
A  disease  called  the  lead  colic  raged  in  Poitou 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  for  upward  of  sixty 
years,  and  is  now  well  known  to  have  been 
occasioned  by  the  abominable  adulterations  of 
wine  with  lead.    In  181 1,  all  the  passengers  of 
the  Highflyer  coach  who  dined  and  drank  wine 
at  Newcastle,  January  1 7th,  were  taken  ill  with 
extreme  sickness,  and  one  gentleman,  who  had 
taken  more  wine  than  the  rest,  was  brought  al- 
most to  the  grave  ;  and  another,  who  had  drank 
some  negus  which  was  made  from  the  very 
wine,  was  taken  ill  soon  after,  and  actually  died 
before  medical  aid  arrived,  and  on  the  inquest 
being  held,  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  died 
of  poison. 

In  the  Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal,  Vol.  XXIII.,  page  67,  there  is  the  fol- 


20 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


lowing  case:  "  The  family  of  a  baronet  in  Rox- 
burghshire, together  with  several  visitors,  were 
taken  seriously  ill  during  dinner,  or  soon  after 
it;  the  symptoms  in  all  were  sickness,  vomit- 
ing, and  diarrhoea.  In  the  course  of  the  night, 
all  were  afflicted  with  a  sense  of  heat  in  the  sto- 
mach, throat,  and  mouth,  and  in  the  morning 
the  lips  became  incrusted,  and  in  the  matter 
vomited  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  part  of  a 
grain  of  arsenic  was  discovered,  and  in  the  re- 
mains of  a  bottle  of  champagne,  two  ounces  of 
wine  gave  one  grain  and  a  quarter  of  sulphate  of 
arsenic."  How  true  it  is  that  few  persons  who 
drink  wine  have  any  conception  of  what  they 
drink.  So  one  gentleman,  according  to  the  testi- 
mony of  Mr.  Delevan,  thought,  who  purchased 
in  this  city  a  bottle  of  what  was  called  genuine 
champagne  of  the  importer,  and  found  it  to  con- 
tain one  quarter  of  an  ounce  of  sugar  of  lead. 
Merchants,  I  know,  persuade  themselves  that  the 
minute  quantity  employed  to  cause  the  acid 
taste  in  wine  is  perfectly  harmless.  But  chem- 
ical analysis  proves  the  contrary,  and  it  must  be 
pronounced  highly  deleterious.  Lead,  in  what- 
ever state  it  is  taken  into  the  stomach,  occasions 
terrible  disease,  and  wine  adulterated  with  the 
minutest  quantity  of  it  becomes  a  slow  poison. 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


21 


Such  being  the  case,  does  not  the  merchant  or 
dealer  who  practices  this  dangerous  sophistica- 
tion add  to  the  crime  of  fraud  that  of  murder ; 
and  is  he  not  deliberately  sowing  the  seeds  of 
disease  and  death  among  those  who  contribute 
to  his  emolument  ?  We  know  that  much  has 
been  said  about  the  pure  wines  of  Ohio  and 
California,  the  sparkling  Catawba  and  Isabella ; 
and  those  who  advocate  their  use  may  really 
believe  they  are  the  pure  juice  of  the  grape — at 
least  they  know  that  the  manufacturers  of  such 
wines  raise  whole  acres  of  grapes,  which  is  good 
prima  facie  evidence  that  grapes  are  what  they 
make  wine  of.  This  reminds  us  of  one  who 
gave  a  receipt  for  making  bear's-grease :  after 
telling  how  it  is  made,  in  which  there  is  no 
more  of  the  bear  than  in  the  wines  now  drank, 
he  remarks :  "  It  would  be  well  to  keep  a  bear 
on  the  premises,  so  that  the  people  would  think 
it  was  bear's-grease."  Sure  enough ;  it  is  well  to 
raise  grapes  alias  to  exhibit  the  bear.  When, 
then,  we  know  that  the  wines  now  current  are 
really  a  mess  of  drugs,  a  concoction  of  vile 
compounds,  does  not  the  medical  prescription 
of  wines  partake  of  the  rankest  quackery  ? 

Here  not  only  have  we  the  liquor-dealer 
constituted  the  apothecary,  and  the  doses  left  to 


22 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


be  regulated  by  the  appetite  of  the  patient, 
but  the  true  composition  and  strength  of  the 
drinks  prescribed  are  quite  unknown  to  the  pre- 
scribe r. 

The  London  Times,  which  can  not  be  accused 
of  fanaticism  on  the  subject,  says  :  "  As  a  rule, 
medical  men  know  no  more  of  the  value  of  wine 
as  a  medicinal  agent  than  any  body  else.  A 
glass  of  sherry  is  their  universal  panacea  for 
want  of  tone  in  the  system  ;  but  sherry  may 
mean  any  thing  but  the  thing  it  is  really  called. 
It  is  a  great  pity  the  faculty  do  not  pay  as  much 
attention  to  wine  as  a  medicament  as  they  do  to 
water.  We  are  told  there  is  some  spa  suitable 
to  every  complaint  the  human  frame  is  liable  to; 
but  port  and  sherry  are  all  the  wines  the  majo- 
rity of  physicians  prescribe  or  recommend  to 
their  patients  when  special  restoratives  are 
required."  When  physicians  prescribe  wine  for 
their  patients,  ought  they  not  to  ascertain 
whether  what  they  order  is  the  product  of  the 
sun  in  the  vineyard,  or  of  applied  chemistry  in 
the  laboratory  ? 


* 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS.  23 


BRANDY,  RUM,  GIN,  WHISKY. 

We  asked  a  physician  the  other  day,  who 
had  just  written  a  prescription  for  one  of  his 
patients,  what  it  was  he  had  ordered.  "  Just  a 
little  cognac  brandy,"  he  replied,  so  called  from 
the  village  of  Cognac,  on  the  river  Charente,  in 
the  kingdom  of  France.  On  the  strength  of 
her  physician's  testimony,  the  poor  invalid  ima- 
gined, as  thousands  of  others  have  blindly  be- 
lieved, that  she  was  using  a  drink  distilled  from 
grapes,  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  not  one  per  cent 
of  all  the  liquor  sold  as  brandy  in  this  country 
is  real  brandy  ;  that  we  pay  the  French  distillers 
at  Lyons  and  Marseilles,  saying  nothing  of  half 
a  hundred  other  places  on  the  European  con- 
tinent and  our  own,  to  make  our  corn  whiskies 
into  fine  old  brandies.  In  proof  of  this,  we  have 
just  to  refer  to  the  various  receipt-books  which 
spirit  dealers,  as  well  as  wine  merchants  and 
brewers,  have,  containing  specific  directions  for 
the  manufacture  and  adulterations  of  liquor. 

For  example,  in  the  Vintner  s  Guide,  to  im- 
prove the  flavor  of  brandy :  A  quarter  of  an 
ounce  of  English  saffron  and  half  an  ounce  of 


24 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


mace,  steeped  in  a  pint  of  brandy  for  ten  days, 
shaking  it  once  or  twice  a  day,  then  strain  it 
through  linen  cloth,  and  add  one  ounce  of  terra 
japonica,  finely  powdered,  and  three  ounces  of 
spirits  of  nitre  ;  put  it  into  ten  gallons  of  brandy, 
adding  at  the  same  time  ten  pounds  of  prunes, 
bruised.  To  give  new  brandy  all  the  qualities 
of  old  :  To  one  gallon  of  new  brandy,  add  thirty 
drops  of  aqua  ammonia  (volatile  smelling  li- 
quor), shaking  it  well  that  it  may  combine  with 
the  acid  on  which  the  taste  and  other  qualities 
of  the  new  liquor  depend."  Lacour,  the  cele- 
brated manufacturer  of  oils  for  making  and  fla- 
voring every  variety  of  liquors,  offers  his  guide- 
book, containing  directions  for  making  cider 
without  apples,  and  for  converting  cider  into 
all  kinds  of  white  wines,  champagne,  etc.,  and 
a  package  of  the  article  used  for  giving  strength 
to  liquors,  converting  seventy  gallons  of  whisky 
into  one  hundred  gallons,  and  every  article 
necessary  to  commence  a  liquor-store,  will  be 
furnished  for  $25  (very  moderate),  also  all  the 
information  necessary  to  conduct  such  an  esta- 
blishment, thus  enabling  the  new  beginner  to 
•compete  successfully  with  the  oldest  liquor 
dealer.  This  Lacour  s  oil  of  cognac  is  warrant- 
ed to  convert  neutral  spirit  to  a  superior  imita- 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


25 


tion  of  imported  brandies — namely,  Otarcl, 
Sazerat,  Marretti,  Cognac,  Martel,  Hennessy, 
Renault,  Castillon,  and  London  Dock  brandies. 
These  liquors  will  have  a  full,  fruity  flavor, 
and  a  beautiful  sparkling  color,  etc. 

So  much  for  the  books  ;  now  for  the  produc- 
tions. What  it  really  was  that  that  patient  may 
have  been  prescribed  to  drink  we  shall  see.  In 
reply  to  the  question,  "  Have  you  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  imported  wines  and  brandies  are 
adulterated  ?"  put  to  Dr.  Cox,  the  inspector  of 
liquors  for  Ohio,  he  says :  "  Yes,  I  know  them  to 
be,  and  can  demonstrate  the  fact  to  any  one 
who  has  faith  in  chemical  developments.  I  have 
inspected  brands  of  various  kinds  and  qualities 
fresh  from  the  custom-house,  with  the  inspector's 
certificate  which  accompanied  them,  and  was 
assured  that  they  were  freshly  imported  ;  and 
yet  the  chemical  tests  gave  me  corn  whisky, 
with  abundance  of  fusel  oil,  or  the  oil  of  corn, 
as  a  basis,  with  sulphuric  acid,  nitric  ether,  prus- 
sic  acid,  copper,  chloroform,  Guinea  pepper, 
tannin  or  tannic  acid,  with  sometimes  a  very 
small  percentage  of  good  brandy,  and  frequent- 
ly not  a  drop.  The  same  gentleman  says  :  "  A 
gentleman  of  veracity  in  Cincinnati,  a  druggist, 
that  he  might  have  a  pure  liquor  as  a  medicinal 


26 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


article,  and  that  kind  of  purity,  etc.,  that  lie 
could  recommend  to  his  customers,  went  to 
New-York  and  purchased  two  half  pipes  of 
splendid  Seignette  brandy — one  pale,  the  other 
dark.  When  passing  one  day,  he  called  me  in 
to  see  his  beautiful  pure  brandy,  just  from  New- 
York.  I  stopped,  looked  at  it,  smelled  it ;  but 
before  tasting  it,  happening  to  have  some  blue 
litmus-paper  in  my  pocket,  I  introduced  a  small 
piece  ;  it  came  out  red  as  scarlet.  I  then  called 
for  a  polished  spatula,  put  it  into  a  tumbler  con- 
taining perhaps  half  a  gill,  and  waited  on  it  per- 
haps fifteen  minutes,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
the  liquor  was  black  as  ink.  The  spatula  cor- 
roded, and  when  dried,  a  thick  coating  or  rust, 
which,  when  wiped  off,  left  a  copper  coat  almost 
as  thick  as  if  it  had  been  plated.  I  charged 
him  on  the  spot,  under  the  penalty  of  the  law, 
not  to  sell  a  drop  of  it ;  took  samples  of  it  to 
my  office,  and  the  following  is  the  result  of  my 
analysis  :  ist  sample,  dark,  55  per  cent  alcoholic 
spirits  by  volume,  and  41  per  cent  by  weight; 
specific  gravity,  0.945.  The  tests  indicate  sul- 
phuric acid,  nitric  acid,  nitric  ether,  prussic  acid, 
Guinea  pepper,  and  an  abundance  of  fusel  oil, 
bare  common  whisky,  not  a  drop  of  wine. 
2d  sample,  pale,  54  per  cent  alcoholic  spirits  by 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


27 


volume,  40  per  cent  by  weight;  specific  gravity, 
0.955.  This  article  has  the  same  adulterations 
as  the  first,  but  in  greater  abundance,  with  the 
addition  of  caoutchouc. 

Remark  :  Most  villainous  concoctions ;  of 
course  these  articles  could  not  be  sold  without 
a  violation  of  the  liquor  law,  consequently  the 
chemist  condemned  them.  They  were  pur- 
chased on  four  months'  time.  The  purchaser 
immediately  notified  the  New- York  merchant 
of  the  character  and  quality  of  the  goods,  and 
directed  him  to  send  for  them  ;  but  instead  of 
sending  for  them,  he  waited  till  the  notes  be- 
came due,  and  brought  the  suit  into  the  Court 
of  Common.  Pleas  (Cincinnati).  The  chemist 
analyzed  the  liquors  in  the  presence  of  the 
court  and  jury,  showed  them  satisfactorily  that 
they  were  the  pernicious,  poisonous,  and  vil- 
lainous liquors  which  he  had  represented  them 
to  be,  and  the  defendant  gained  his  case 
triumphantly,  and  the  New-York  merchant 
vanished  before  a  state  warrant  could  be  got 
out;  otherwise  he  would  have  had  ample  time 
allowed  him  to  learn  an  honest  trade  at  one  of 
the  State  institutions  in  Columbus. 


28 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


RUM. 

With  this  liquor,  supposed  to  be  a  simple 
distillation  of  the  sugar-cane,  some  adultera- 
tions arc  carried  on.  The  impositions  prac- 
ticed with  rum  generally  consist  in  purchasing 
low-priced  Leeward  Island  rum,  and  by  the 
introduction  of  such  articles  as  the  following, 
in  certain  proportions,  it  is  sold  as  fine  old 
Jamaica  rum  of  peculiar  softness  and  flavor: 
ale,  porter,  shrub,  extract  of  orris-root,  cherry- 
laurel  water,  extract  of  grains  of  paradise,  or 
capsicum. 

GIN. 

According  to  the  guide  for  distillation  and 
brewing,  the  list  of  ingredients  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  gin  is  truly  startling.  The 
articles  are  as  follows  :  oil  of  vitriol,  oil  of  cas- 
sia, oil  of  turpentine,  oil  of  caraway,  oil  of 
juniper,  oil  of  almond,  sjulphuric  ether,  extract 
of  capsicum,  extract  of  grains  of  paradise,  ex- 
tract of  orris-root,  extract  of  angelica-root, 
water,  sugar,  etc. 

Dr.  Sherman,  of  London,  says :  "  Holland 
gin  has  been  poisoned  by  lead.  I  detected  an 
extensive  adulteration  of  smuggled  gin,  which 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


29 


had  been  sold  by  an  excise  officer  and  dispers- 
ed over  an  extensive  tract  of  country,  and 
which  committed  great  ravages  among  the  in- 
habitants." 

WHISKY. 

The  time  was  when  this  liquor  could  be 
had  in  its  purity.  When  the  whiskies  of  Scot- 
land and  Ireland  got  their  reputation,  they 
were  the  products  of  one  thousand  illicit  stills, 
scattered  through  the  hills  and  bogs  of  those 
lands.  Then  the  liquor  was  made  by  men  who 
disdained  to  do  any  thing  worse  than  cheat  the 
gauger.  They  prided  themselves  on  the  skill 
of  their  brewing,  and  did  not  know  the  mean- 
ing of  doctoring.  That  day  has  gone  by  ;  the 
illicit  stills  are  almost  extirpated,  and  the  mak- 
ing of  Scotch  and  Irish  whiskies  is  in  the  hands 
of  large  distillers. 

The  principle  of  dressing,  as  it  is  termed,  is 
about  the  same  as  that  followed  in  gin,  with  the 
exception  of  getting  that  smoky  taste,  which  is 
supposed  to  be  a  certain  part  of  a  good  Scotch 
or  Irish  whisky,  and  that  is  produced  by  the 
introduction  of  creasote,  which  is  a  deadly 
poison.  The  same  drugging  process  is  carried 
on  with  bourbon  and  rye  whiskies.    Most  of 


30 


ADULTERATION"  OF  LIQUORS. 


our  readers  remember  the  excitement  created, 
a  few  years  ago,  all  over  our  Western  country, 
from  the  large  number  of  hogs  that  died  from 
some  malignant  disease,  particularly  in  the 
State  of  Ohio.  The  disease  was  called  the 
Hog  Cholera.  Soon  the  discovery  was  made 
that  the  disease  was  confined  to  the  distillers 
and  their  immediate  neighbors.  It  was  also 
noticed  that  the  fish  in  some  streams  on 
the  banks  of  which  distilleries  were  located, 
died  in  large  numbers,  manifesting  all  the 
symptoms  of  intoxication  or  poisoning  by  nux- 
vomica.  Finally,  the  swill  of  the  distilleries 
was  analyzed,  and  the  presence  of  strychnine 
discovered.  This  at  once  accounted  for  the 
fatality  among  the  hogs  and  fish.  At  first,  the 
distillers  were  very  indignant ;  but  seeing  the 
thing  could  not  be  hid,  afterward  acknowledged 
that  they  used  the  drug  to  aid  them  in  obtain- 
ing more  spirits  out  of  the  same  quantity  of 
corn.  Physicians  say  that  since  the  introduc- 
tion of  strychnine,  etc.,  in  the  manufacture  of 
whisky,  it  has  become  impossible  to  cure  deli- 
rium tremens.  "  One  day,"  Dr.  Cox  says,  "  I 
called  at  a  grocery-store  where  liquor  also  was 
kept ;  a  couple  of  Irishmen  came  in  while  I  was 
there  and  called  for  some  whisky,  and  the  first 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


31 


drank,  and  the  moment  he  drank  the  tears 
flowed  freely,  while  he  at  the  same  time  caught 
his  breath,  like  one  suffocated  or  strangling  ; 
when  he  could  speak,  he  says  to  his  companion, 
1  Och,  Michael,  but  this  is  a  warming  to  the 
stomach  !'  Michael  drank,  and  went  through  like 
contortions,  with  the  remark,  '  W ouldn't  it  be 
foine  in  a  could,  frosty  morning  ?'  After  they 
had  drank,  I  asked  the  landlord  to  pour  me  out 
a  little  in  a  tumbler,  in  which  I  dropped  a  slip 
of  litmus-paper,  which  was  no  sooner  wet  than 
it  put  on  a  scarlet  hue.  I  went  to  my  office,  and 
got  my  instruments  and  examined  it.  I  found 
it  had  17  percent  alcoholic  spirits  by  weight, 
when  it  should  have  40  per  cent  to  be  proof, 
and  the  difference  in  percentage  made  up  by 
sulphuric  acid,  red  pepper,  pellitory,  caustic 
potassa,  benzine,  and  one  of  the  salts  of  nucis 
vomicae,  commonly  called  mix  vomica.  One 
pint  of  such  liquor  would  kill  the  strongest 
man.  I  had  the  manufacturer  indicted  ;  but 
by  such  villainy  he  had  become  wealthy,  and  I 
never  have,  owing  to  some  defect  in  the  laws, 
been  able  to  bring  that  case  to  a  final  issue." 

The  amount  of  adulterated  liquors  is  enor- 
mous. ;  and,  with  a  few  exceptions,  the  entire 
liquor  traffic  of  the  world  is  not  only  a  fraud, 


32 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


but  (perhaps  without  all  of  the  dealers  being 
aware  of  the  fact)  it  also  amounts  to  a  system 
of  drugging  and  poisoning. 

The  business  of  making  adulterated  liquors 
has  been  so  simplified  that  any  novice  who 
knows  enough  to  make  a  punch  or  a  cocktail 
can  learn  in  a  short  time  how  to  make  any 
kind  of  liquor  that  will  pass  muster  with  nine 
tenths  of  the  drinking  community.  The  oils 
and  essences  are  within  the  reach  of  any  dealer, 
wholesale  or  retail,  and  with  the  chemical 
preparations  he  can  procure  the  directions  for 
making  a  large  or  small  quantity  in  a  short 
time. 

If  the  oils,  essences,  and  other  chemical 
preparations  are  wanted  for  converting  com 
whisky  into  any  other  kind  of  liquor,  they  can 
easily  be  obtained.  You  can  procure  brandy- 
oil  enough  to  change  eight  barrels  of  corn 
whisky  into  eight  barrels  of  French  brandy  for 
$16,  and  enough  chemicals  to  convert  sixteen 
barrels  into  Holland  gin,  London  cordial  gin, 
Old  Tom  gin,  or  schnapps,  for  $12. 

To  make  old  bourbon  or  rye  and  wheat 
whisky,  enough  of  these  chemical  compounds 
can  be  purchased  for  $8  to  make  four  barrels  ; 
and  to  make  four  barrels  of  Irish  or  Scotch 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


33 


whisky,  the  chemical  materials  can  be  procured 
for  $10. 

Then  there  is  the  cost  of  the  coloring  matter, 
and  what  the  dealers  call  age  and  body  prepa- 
ration. By  using  these  drugs,  new  whisky  is 
converted  into  any  kind  of  liquor  of  any  age 
or  color  in  a  short  time.  Some  of  these 
materials  are  known  to  be  deadly  poisons. 
The  more  highly  the  imitation  liquor  can  be 
charged  with  the  cheap  poisonous  drugs,  to 
supply  the  intoxicating  properties  of  alcohol, 
the  more  water  can  be  added,  thus  reducing 
the  cost  and  keeping  up  the  intoxicating  power 
of  the  liquor.  These  preparations  can  be 
procured  in  any  quantity.  A  small  retailer  can 
purchase  a  small  quantity  sufficient  to  convert 
a  gallon  or  two  of  whisky  into  brandy,  gin,  or 
rum,  as  his  daily  wants  may  require,  but  they 
are  generally  used  for  larger  quantities. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  there  are  an 
immense  number  of  receipts  for  making  all 
kinds  of  intoxicating  liquors.  From  various 
authentic  sources,  I  have  procured  a  large 
number  of  these,  which  have  been  made  use  of 
at  different  times,  and  are  in  use  now. 


34 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIOUORS. 


MALT .  LIQUORS. 

It  is  absolutely  frightful  to  contemplate  the 
lists  of  poisons  and  drugs   with  which  malt 
liquors  are  doctored.     Respecting  porter,  ac- 
cording to  several  books  published  for  the  use 
of  brewers  (sec  Child's  Art  of  Brewing  there 
are  used  opium,  henbane,  capsicum,  cocculus 
indicus,  salt  of  tartar,  headings,  ginger,  and 
slaked  lime.     The  heading  is  a  mixture  of 
half  alum  and  half  copperas,  ground  to  a  fine 
powder,  and  is  so  called  from  giving  to  porter 
that  beautiful  head  of  froth  which  constitutes 
one  of  the  peculiar  properties  of  porter,  and 
which  landlords  are  so  anxious  to  raise  to 
gratify  their  customers.    Besides  these  named, 
aloes,  quassia,  gentian,  sweet-scented  flag,  worm- 
wood, hoarhound,  bitter  oranges,  and  that  most 
abominable  of  all  abominations,  and  a  deadly- 
poison,  tobacco,  are  used  to  supply  the  place  of 
hops.    In  England,  a  few  years  ago,  public 
attention  was  strongly  called  to  this,  and  the 
result  was  some  terrible  revelations  as  to  what 
the  intelligent  British  public  had  been  swallow- 
ing.   It  was  found  that  salt,  molasses,  sulphate 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


35 


of  iron,  gentian,  quassia,  chamomile,  ginger, 
coriander,  paradise-seed,  alum,  sulphuric  acid, 
capsicum,  cocculus  indicus,  tobacco,  opium, 
and  strychnine,  were  component  parts  of  the 
different  specimens  of  porter  and  ale  obtained 
from  various  beer-shops  through  the  city  of 
London. 

In  an  English  book,  called  Brewing  Malt 
Liquors,  by  one  Morrice,  various  of  the  arti- 
cles already  named  are  unblushingly  recom- 
mended for  brewing  malt  liquors,  and  for  im- 
proving them  after  they  are  brewed ;  but  the 
drugging  does  not  cease  with  the  brewer,  the 
liquors  are  often  doctored  by  the  retailers. 
One  case  in  point :  less  than  a  year  ago,  some 
dissipated  men  and  women  were  drinking  ale 
and  porter  in  a  dram-shop  in  Hull,  England. 
The  landlord  had  occasion  to  leave  the  shop, 
when  one  of  the  women,  seeing  on  the  counter 
a  pitcherful  of  what  she  supposed  was  porter, 
drank  a  good  draft,  replacing  the  pitcher.  In 
a  very  short  time  she  was  seized  with  nausea 
and  griping  pains,  and  fell  down  on  the  floor 
in  a  state  of  hopeless  stupor  and  intoxication. 
In  this  state,  she  was  conveyed  to  the  hospital, 
where  the  contents  of  the  stomach  being 
evacuated,  she  was  rescued  from  being  poison- 


36 


ADULTERATION  <)F  LIOUOKS. 


ed,  although  it  was  several  days  before  she 
was  able  to  be  removed.  The  matter  vomited 
was  found  to  be  a  strong  solution  of  cocculus 
indicus.  The  publican  acknowledged  that  the 
drug  had  been  used  by  him  to  bring  up  his 
ales  to  a  strength  to  suit  the  customers.  This 
was  a  noted  house  for  genuine  ales  and  bitter 
beer. 

Morricc,  in  his  practical  treatise  on  brewing 
the  various  sorts  of  malt  liquors,  with  examples 
of  each  species,  the  whole  forming  a  complete 
guide  to  brewing  London  porter,  gives  us  one 
receipt  out  of  these  for  making  89  barrels:  25 
qrs.  malt,  1  cwt  2  qrs.  of  hops,  6  lbs.  of  coccu- 
lus indicus,  3  lbs.  of  Leghorn  juice,  4  lbs.  of 
porter  extract ;  then  he  makes  "  the  remaining 
goods  into  small  beer  by  adding  3  lbs.  of  coc- 
culus indicus,  being  ground  fine,  and  4  lbs. 
of  faba  amara,  or  bitter  bean." 

Another  popular  author,  to  whom  we  have 
more  than  once  referred,  Child,  in  his  work, 
Every  Man  his  Own  Brewer,  after  stating  that 
cocculus  indicus,  capsicum,  and  headings  are 
used  in  making  porter,  says :  "  However  much 
they  may  surprise,  however  pernicious  or  disa- 
greeable they  may  appear,  I  have  always  found 
them  requisite  in  the  brewing  of  porter  ;  they 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


37 


must  invariably  be  used  by  those  who  wish  to 
continue  the  taste,  flavor,  and  appearance." 

BEER. 

In  the  essay  on  brewing,  published  in  the 
Library  of  Useful  Knowledge,  we  find  there, 
in  the  manufacture  of  beer,  sugar,  molasses, 
honey,  and  liquorice  are  used  for  malt ;  alum, 
opium,  gentian,  quassia,  aloes,  cocculus  indicus, 
gentian,  amara,  tobacco,  and  nux  vomica  are  used 
for  hops ;  and  the  last-mentioned  are  known  to 
be  highly  poisonous.  Saltpetre,  common  salt 
mixed  with  wheat  or  bean  flour,  jalap,  the  fiery 
liquid  called  spirit  of  maranta  bruised,  green 
copperas,  lime,  marble-dust,  oyster-shells,  egg- 
shells, sulphate  of  lime,  hartshorn-shavings, 
nut-galls,  and  the  subcarbonate  of  potash  and 
soda,  are  used  to  prevent  acidity,  etc.  It  was 
our  fortune,  some  time  ago,  to  be  admitted 
behind  the  scenes,  and  witness  the  modus 
operandi  of  making  wholesome  beer  and  pure 
ale  in  all  its  stages,  and  know  whereof  we  speak 
when  we  say  that  to  give  beer  a  cauliflower 
head,  beer-heading  is  used,  consisting  of  green 
vitriol,  alum,  and  salt. 

Alum  gives  likewise  a  smack  of  age  to  beer, 


38 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


and  is  penetrating  to  the  palate.  To  make  this 
beer  old,  add  oil  of  vitriol,  and  an  imitation  of 
the  age  of  eighteen  months  is  thus  produced 
in  an  instant.  As  to  the  water  employed  in  the 
manufacture  of  malt  liquor,  the  testimony  of 
a  brewer  in  this  country  gives  ground  for 
believing  there  was  some  foundation  in  the 
rumor  that  prevailed  a  few  years  ago,  that 
water  used  at  one  of  the  largest  breweries  in 
London  was  pumped  from  the  Thames  at  low 
water.  At  that  time,  the  draining  of  the 
stables  and  filth  of  every  kind  poured  down 
the  sewers,  and,  finally,  into  the  river.  And 
that  brewery  was  hence  famed  for  the  richness 
of  its  porter.  The  brewer  says:  M  In  the  great 
brewery  in  which  I  have  for  years  been  em- 
ployed, the  pipes  which  draw  the  water  from 
the  river  come  in  just  at  the  place  which 
receives  the  drainings  of  the  horse-stables. 
And  there  is  no  such  beer  in  the  world  as  was 
made  from  it." 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


39 


NATURE   OF   INGREDIENTS  USED 
IN   THE  MANUFACTURE  OF 
INTOXICATING  DRINKS. 

COCCULUS  INDICUS,  OR  INDIAN  BERRY. 

This  article,  which  is  rarely  ever  used  in 
medicine,  and  of  no  importance  in  the  arts,  is 
extensively  used  for  the  purpose  of  adulterating 
malt  liquors.  To  such  an  extent  is  this  the  case 
that  writers  on  brewing  openly  acknowledge  the 
fact,  and  give  regular  formulae  for  its  employ- 
ment ;  and  all  recommend  it  on  the  ground 
that  it  increases  the  apparent  strength  of  the 
beer,  and  improves  its  intoxicating  quality. 

It  is  a  small,  rough,  and  black-looking  berry, 
of  a  very  bitter  taste  and  an  intoxicating  quality. 
In  doses  of  two  or  three  grains,  it  will  produce 
nausea,  vomiting,  and  alarming  prostration. 
In  ten  or  twelve  grain  doses,  it  kills  strong  dogs 
by  tetanic  spasms  and  convulsions ;  and  in  still 
larger  doses,  death,  both  in  man  and  animals,  is 
speedily  produced. 

In  India,  it  is  employed  by  the  Nagus  and 
other   Indian   tribes  to  poison  the  water  in 


40 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


wells  and  tanks,  to  impede  the  progress  of  an 
invading  army,  and  also  to  poison  the  weapons 
used  in  warfare. 

FOXGLOVE 

is  a  plant  with  large  purple  flowers,  possessing 
an  intensely  bitter,  nauseous  taste.  It  is  a  vio- 
lent purgative  and  emetic  ;  produces  languor, 
giddiness,  and  even  death.  It  is  a  poison,  and 
is  used  on  account  of  the  bitter  and  intoxicating 
qualities  it  imparts  to  the  liquor  with  which  it  is 
mixed. 

GREEN  COPPERAS, 

a  mineral  substance  obtained  from  iron,  is 
much  used  to  give  the  porter  a  frothy  top. 
Hartshorn-shavings  are  the  horns  of  the  com- 
mon male  deer  rasped  or  scraped  down.  They 
are  then  boiled  in  the  worts  of  ale,  and  give 
out  a  substance  of  a  thickish  nature  like  jelly, 
which  is  said  to  prevent  intoxicating  liquor  from 
becoming  sour. 

HENBANE. 

A  plant  of  a  poisonous  nature,  bearing  a 
close  resemblance  to  the  narcotic  poison 
opium.     It   produces   intoxication,  delirium, 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS.  41 


nausea,  vomiting,  feverishness,  and  death,  and 
appears  chiefly  to  be  used  to  increase  the  in- 
toxicating effects  of  liquors.  Grains  of  para- 
dise are  also  largely  used.  They  are  also 
narcotic,  causing,  when  taken  in  a  state  of 
infusion,  sickness,  general  feeling  of  distress, 
and  finally  stupor,  tremor,  or  general  nervous 
prostration. 

JALAP. 

The  root  of  a  sort  of  convolvulus,  brought 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Xalapa,  Mexico.  It 
*  is  used  as  a  powerful  purgative  in  medicine. 
Its  taste  is  extremely  nauseous,  and  is  used  to 
prevent  intoxicating  liquor  from  souring,  and  to 
counteract  the  binding  tendency  of  some  of  the 
other  ingredients  employed  by  the  brewer. 

LIME. 

An  earthy  substance,  of  a  white  color.  It 
has  a  hot,  burning  taste,  and  in  some  measure 
corrodes  and  destroys  the  texture  of  those 
animal  substances  with  which  it  comes  into 
contact. 


42 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


MULTUM 

is  a  mixture  of  opium  and  other  ingredients, 
prepared  by  chemists  for  the  brewer,  and  used 
by  him  to  create  the  intoxicating  qualities  of  the 
liquor.  It  is  of  a  highly  poisonous  nature,  and 
doubtless  contributes  to  the  fatal  effects  of 
that  liquor. 

NUT-GALLS 

are  excrescences  produced  by  the  attacks  of  a 
small  insect  on  the  tender  shoots  of  a  tree 
which  grows  in  Asia,  Syria,  and  Persia.  They 
have  a  very  bitter  taste,  and  are  used  to  color  or 
fire  the  liquor. 

NUX  VOMICA 

is  the  powdered  fruit  of  the  strychnus  nux 
vomica.  Its  name  suffices  to  characterize  it.  It 
is  a  violent  narcotic,  acrid  poison,  and  is  exten- 
sively used  in  the  manufacture  of  intoxicating 
liquors.  It  is  such  a  dangerous  poison  that 
medical  men  rarely  prescribe  it. 

OPIUM 

is  the  thickened  juice  of  the -white  poppy, 
which  grows  most  abundantly  in  India.    It  is 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUOR?. 


43 


the  most  destructive  of  narcotic  poisons,  and  it 
is  the  most  intoxicating.  It  is  largely  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  intoxicating  liquors,  because 
its  very  nature  is  to  yield  a  larger  quantity  of 
intoxicating  matter  than  any  other  beverage. 

OIL  OF  VITRIOL, 

or  sulphuric  acid,  is  a  mineral  poison  of  an 
awfully  burning  nature.  It  destroys  every 
thing  it  comes  in  contact  with.  It  is  used  by 
brewers  to  increase  the  heating  qualities  of  their 
liquors. 

POTASH 

derives  its  name  from  ashes  and  the  pots  in 
which  it  is  prepared.  It  is  made  from  vegetables 
mixed  with  quicklime,  boiled  down  in  pots  and 
burnt,  the  ashes  remaining  after  the  burning 
being  potash. 

QUASSIA 

is  the  name  of  a  tree  which  grows  in  America 
and  the  West-Indies.  Both  the  wood  and  the 
fruit  are  of  an  intensely  bitter  taste.  It  is  used 
by  brewers  instead  of  hops. 


44 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS 


TOBACCO 

is  a  narcotic  poison  of  a  bitter,  acrid  taste. 
When  it  is  distilled,  it  yields  an  essential  oil  of 
a  most  violent  and  destructive  nature. 

WORMWOOD 

is  a  plant  or  Sower  with  downy  leaves  and 
small  round-headed  flowers.  The  seed  of  this 
plant  has  bitter  and  stimulating  properties. 

In  view  of  the  facts  here  presented,  is  it  not 
a  monstrous  absurdity  to  style  liquors  composed 
of  such  vile  abominations,  healthful  beverages  ? 
And  is  it  not  sheer  blasphemy  to  speak  of 
protecting  a  traffic  whose  whole  history  is  one 
gigantic  fraud  ? 

Talk  of  pure  liquors  !  men  know  not  what 
they  say.  The  purest  of  the  manufacturers' 
liquors  is  alcoholic,  and  as  such  is  deadly  in 
its  effects. 

We  solemnly  aver  that  if  ever  there  was  a 
State-prison  offense,  it  is  that  of  putting  into 
the  market  liquors  manufactured  out  of  articles 
infernal  in  their  character,  and  labeling  them 
as  pure  and  wholesome.    And  we  firmly  believe 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 


45 


that  the  day  is  coining  when  it  will  be  so 
regarded;  when  the  traffic  in  intoxicating 
liquors  will  be  put  under  the  law,  and  men  will 
be  held  responsible  for  every  infringement 
thereof.  And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  whole- 
sale prescription  of  such  liquors  by  so  many 
medical  men  ? 


I 


